Feisty Mel the trainee time-travelling angel is back for her fourth adventure! And this time, it's1920s Hollywood that needs her special touch...New-look cover for an angelic series rebirth! Mel gets the Call -- a strange out-of-body experience which tells Angel Academy students that they are ready for their first guardian angel module. At first, it seems like a suitably fluffy assignment -- the America of the 1920s, full of flappers and limos, jazz and silent movies. But Mel's got her hands full when she has to look after Honesty Bloomfield, a sullen, withdrawn girl who is travelling across America with her family. They are bound for Hollywood -- the city of dreams, or nightmares?
Ending 2018 with an old favourite from when I was 11/12. That was around the time that I had just started schooling in English, so even though I knew the language was really simple in this series, I appreciated it. I was able to expand my vocabulary while reading stories that were actually targeted at my age group, and not first graders.
I loved the stories back then too, and can still see their charm today. There were other more memorable periods and locations in other books, but 1920s USA wasn’t too shabby in Calling the Shots either. I liked that Mel was separated from her friends for the first time and had to take care of a mission herself. The family she was placed with didn’t have it easy, so it made sense a guardian angel would be assigned to them.
Pretty sure this is also one of the first few works of fiction that I read as a child that shed light on racism and it’s impact, while also expressing indignation towards such bigotry.
